Chapter 15 – Diyuan versus Yunya, the First Match

  To say that Diyuan’s proclamation caused an uproar would be an understatement.

  Never had there been a declaration or invitation that awed the people to such a degree. Cultivators from all cities of every clan would seek out gossipers to see what they could learn about this Yuhan Diyuan. At first, the only thing people knew was how he had been at the center of the western plains battle, by refusing to part with his storage ring after an illegal kill.

  But for him to so brazenly say that he defeated Gu Guoxiong in a gambit was something else. Most people had not been made aware that a Nether Mark was used in retaliation until now. But if Diyuan was only 20 years old and said that he hadn’t killed a Dharma cultivator yet, then what was his current cultivation level? What he some sort of divine prodigy that had never existed before?

  Ironically, whenever someone heard the truth—that he was in the Foundation realm—everyone dismissed it as false. No Foundation cultivator would go to the Grotto Carcass pocket world. No Foundation cultivator would have access to a high-grade talisman. No Foundation cultivator would invite numerous Dharma cultivators and challenge them by himself.

  And it was for that very reason why Mother was upset.

  “You dare go to the Carcass Grotto? You’re inviting danger to yourself when you already have enough of it!” She reached out to take his ear, but Diyuan jumped back to dodge it. Fortunately, Mother turned her ire to Father. “And you! This is what you approved of when Elder Yifan called for you?”

  They were inside the central manor of the Yuhan estates. Ranxi and both of his parents were there, and Mother was a little upset.

  “All Dharma cultivators will de-level after the first day,” Father said. His face looked blank, but he seemed to enjoy watching Mother be angry. “And the miasma won’t affect him. Besides, 13 of the 40 spots will belong to the Lianhua clan. They won’t hunt Diyuan.”

  “And that matters why? There are still over 20 cultivators who will likely try to kill him. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard about the clans bidding their spots to would-be assassins!”

  “No, they are,” Father admitted.

  “Are you trying to get my son killed!?” Mother released a wave of pressure all around her, making the air distort. Diyuan immediately put up his barrier to block it from affecting him. Without looking at him, Mother pointed. “See, he can’t even stand right now, if he meets one of them by accident on the first day, it’s death!”

  “He can’t stand?” Father said, raising a brow.

  Mother sharply turned and saw Diyuan unaffected by her gravity.

  “You unfilial son. I’m trying to prove a point and you’re showing off!” She walked over to attempt another ear grab, but this time, instead of jumping away to dodge like she would expect, he jumped towards her.

  He wrapped his hands around her and hugged her close. She grumbled as she tried to pull away, but she put no strength into the push. “Mother, I’m your flying fish. I need to leave your rain.”

  “Don’t you use my preaching against me now. What you’re doing is jumping into deadly lava.” She sighed and hugged him back, though it was tight enough that he thought she wouldn’t let go. Her voice remained stern. “Ranxi, say something to your brother.”

  Ranxi, who had been silently watching the entire time, stood off to the side and didn’t say anything. At least not audibly. [Ma, did you know three level 5 Spiritweave cultivators tried to break into our territory last week?]

  It seemed like Ranxi privately included him into her sound transmission without letting Mother be aware of it. But what Mother said in response he didn’t hear. So he decided to play off of that conversation.

  “Mother, will I be grounded to my room until I reach level 5 Dharma? Because even if I’m level 1 Dharma, I still wouldn’t stand a chance against a peak Dharma cultivator. The hunt for me will never stop; better to use this chance. This pocket world is my advantage, maybe even do away with the Nether Mark with this. You're frightened for me, but imagine their confidence. Who will they think their biggest threat is? It would be the other groups hunting me, trying to steal their bounty. They’ll attack each other first.”

  Mother hugged him all the tighter, but then finally let go. She looked at him fiercely but remained quiet.

  Diyuan decided it was time to finally tell them the truth. “I have a time limit to my Foundation core. If I don’t get it fixed soon, I will explode and die.”

  The look of surprise took Ranxi and Mother’s face. Father seemed to have known already.

  He told them his whole story. How the upper world elixir gave him the new core and what it did for him. But when he tried to breakthrough, he failed because the core did something else instead. He told him his apotheosis theory and figured this new core was probably a method to induce a pseudo physique. He ended by telling them the three paths for a fix.

  “And that’s why we landed with the Carcass Grotto,” he was finishing. “If things go wrong inside the pocket world, I can still bet on the phoenix arte, or otherwise it’s into the Tribulation Shroud I go.”

  Mother finally sighed and stepped in to hug Diyuan. Ranxi joined in as well.

  “Junhao, you too,” Mother commanded.

  Father, as awkwardly as he possibly could, joined in the hug with as much stiffness as he could muster. Diyuan closed his eyes and let the warmth of his family wrap around him. He instilled this moment into his memory, preserved for all eternity.

  When they broke free, Diyuan said one last thing to comfort his mother. “Don’t worry about me. This ticking time is just a way to tell me to leave the water. My solution has always been to fly in the air.”

  Mother then demanded that the family would get together one last time before Diyuan ventured off to the pocket world. It would be their first family meal in a decade. Diyuan was determined to not say farewell once they parted at that time. He would see them all again, no matter what happened in the future.

  ***

  One of Mother’s requirements before letting Diyuan go was to have Father train him with some of the Yuhan Elites. Before any of that began, Diyuan intended to experiment with his new abilities. The short of it was that his Limitless Body allowed him to use his artes a second time, sometimes with differences that wouldn’t exist with its normal use. He wanted to find what some of those differences were.

  He first checked out the Bonegrit Dreadflesh. As he previously tested, he was able to use it again while the “normal” arte was already active, doubling up on his defense. More interestingly was the fact that when he tried to reallocate strength using the limitless version, it didn’t actually steal strength from somewhere else; instead, it simply amplified the strength he wanted. The best part was how it could remain active at all times. However, there was a downside that he couldn’t use another limitless arte while using it on an internal arte. The new atmosphere-like thing around his Foundation core would use continuous lightning strikes, much like a thunder storm, to keep the limitless internal arte active, and was unable to spare any lightning for something else.

  The healing internal arte was the same. He couldn’t use any other limitless arte while it was active, but Diyuan could use the healing on himself, rendering him near-immortal to opponents around the same cultivation level. The double defense and free offense of Bonegrit Dreadflesh also made him near-immortal; he wouldn’t need to use the healing unless he wanted to heal others or himself when needed.

  Since he couldn't use active artes while using the limitless internal artes, it meant he would be temporarily weakened whenever he wanted to use limitless Stunlock Bind. It was essentially a balance he had to play. With practice, he would be able to weave through it all with ease in the midst of combat. It wasn’t anything too odd that he hadn’t already practice within the Reflections Pagoda.

  A strange interaction existed with his Bonegrit Dreadflesh. He could technically apply it to another person, giving them only the defensive utilization of it—not the strength reallocation. What’s peculiar was that he could split their damage back to himself, but he couldn’t split his damage to them. So he could be their damage sponge, but they couldn’t be his.

  The bigger question was how his other artes played out.

  He tested a few things with Ranxi as he was experimenting. The limitless Phoenix Fallen Flight gave her some fire resistance when he used it on her. Whether it gave her the ability to resurrect or not was something they hadn’t tested, for obvious reasons. The Pungent Poison Purifier cleared up the weak poison they tested without issue.

  He was effectively a great healer now due to his Limitless Body. That certainly wasn’t something he had been expecting when he reached apotheosis.

  His review of the other double artes he had obtained back in the pocket world with Yunya, the Emperor’s Rule and the Mesmer’s Echo, were a bit confusing. When he tried the limitless version on those artes, nothing happened. Or rather, Diyuan sensed the lightning from the atmosphere hit the Foundation core, which meant the arte was activated in some way, but nothing came of it. Diyuan had thought he would be able to teleport for free again, or even allow someone else to teleport, but apparently not. As for Mesmer’s Echo, he had been periodically using it, especially to see if something special happened when dodging Mother’s attempt to take his ear, but nothing of note took place.

  With the testing mostly finished, the best way to try the results would be in real combat. He had some time before he was required to go meet up with Father and the Yuhan Elite, so he focused on cleaning up the last remaining problems with his Bonegrit Dreadflesh.

  The difference between a perfect internal arte and one that did good enough was as great a distance as the heavens were from the earth. It was the difference between a mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill, that would only last a short time, to the perfect pill, which was a permanent change.

  The fully perfected Bonegrit Dreadflesh clicked together like a puzzle that hadn’t been finished until now. It truly became more like black cold steel, where more of the damage would be inherently resisted before it even needed to split the damage equally across the body. The other effect of reallocating strength provided even more bonus power that wasn’t there previously. But now to add in his Limitless Body on top of it all, and his prowess leaped even further.

  He had no intention of verbally thanking his Father for beating him black and blue, but he couldn’t deny the results.

  When the time came, Diyuan was at the private training ground, reserved for the Yuhan Elite. Father was there, along with several Elite members, whose lowest cultivation level would be level 5 Spiritweave.

  The training grounds had many high-level intrinsic formations, which would create illusionary-type worlds to practice in. The more complex the illusionary world, the more materials it consumed to keep active. And there were a lot of materials prepared.

  In this case, it was prepared ahead of time to create a mock trial of the Carcass Grotto. Unlike some other pocket worlds, this one didn’t change locations that seemingly didn’t connect. Rather, the Carcass Grotto was a known land that had been mapped out with a castle at its center. The only caveat was that everyone who stepped into the portal would be brought to an unknown random location within. Allies would need to set a predetermined spot to meet up. Enemies would kill each while separated when they could.

  For this mock trial, Diyuan would get a feel of the pocket world and identify some hiding places. Interestingly enough, hiding as a Foundation cultivator wouldn’t be difficult at all. The miasma blocked some sensory detection and nearly blocked all sensory detection at “night,” which was the equivalent of the miasma becoming thick enough to completely nullify vision after a few feet.

  The formation didn’t create the pocket world itself, just key areas. There was a castle at the center, and four other zones in each direction.

  To the north was the Ghostlight Grove. Plants that glowed and hypnotic things were what it was known for. Everyone stayed away.

  In the east lay the Resonate Shards. Giant bone ribcages that made disturbing sounds when something hit it. Demonic beasts immune to the sounds lived there.

  The south held the Blood Sap Pool. Swampy. Moving vines. Getting stunned by a barb would petrify anyone regardless of their cultivation level.

  To the west jutted the Skeletal Cloud Bone Cliffs. There reigned the king of the Carcass Grotto: the Netherwind Crane. It was a large skeletal demonic beast. Multiple Dharma cultivators had tried to bring it down, but they all fled in the end.

  Among those areas, Diyuan came to understand the more popular spots. He started forming a plan on what to do on the first day. As it turned out, Dharma cultivators had their own problems to worry about. Firstly, no level 5 Dharma cultivator would enter the Carcass Grotto. Their power was a beacon unto itself and would attract all sorts of attention from the demonic beasts and the miasma itself. Their cultivation would drop to level 4 Dharma within two hours—shorter if they needed to use artes to defend themselves—but that wouldn’t stop the target placed on them by the nearby creatures. It had been determined that the highest cultivator that should enter was at level 4 Dharma.

  There were actions that drained cultivation level even faster. The stronger the artes used, the faster the miasma gathered. Even if someone simply had their runic wings out, the miasma would target them directly. For that reason, most would walk rather than fly. However, he'd learned that the Honglie clan's artes that transformed the body wouldn’t attract the same attention from the miasma. So a Honglie cultivator with the wings of a demonic beast could fly without worrying about the miasma coming to them and draining their cultivation.

  As for Diyuan, his artes were all at the Foundation level, so it wouldn’t be enough to draw attention. He would need to be careful still, since using spirit artifacts was its own beacon, bringing out demonic beasts. The plan Diyuan was formulating began to have a solid foundation.

  His training continued. The next task was to emulate his survival through these zones by being attacked by multiple cultivators. In Father’s most loving way, he gave the Yuhan Elite permission to dismember his limbs, as long as they didn’t kill him. Diyuan knew who to blame next time Mother asked where they learned their violence from.

  Using the array they were in, the Yuhan Elite acted out how someone from the Gu or Honglie clans would fight. Diyuan’s job here wasn’t to win, but to survive and use their numbers against each other. Most artes didn’t complement each other, so it wasn’t hard to do. It also wasn’t anything new, as his own combat knowledge already did that. The training mimicked some of the enemy’s more common artes, so he knew ahead of time what to expect.

  What he needed was more practice using his Limitless Body. They obliged and did things he asked for. Even with the benefits of the Limitless Body and his defensive abilities, taking a hit from a level 5 Spiritweave cultivator was a task in itself. His black cold steel sword would help absorb and deflect the impact, and he had both his bonus strength and his double defense when applicable, but he would still be forced back several feet with a single impact.

  Of course, they were more surprised that he was only forced back a few feet.

  Diyuan knew that even with all his added strength and power, he still wouldn’t be able to harm them at that level. In the actual Carcass Grotto, the best bet would be to wait until the miasma lowered them to level 3 Spiritweave before he attacked them directly. Only then could he reliably kill his enemies.

  He practiced his limitless arte switching. He would take a barrage of hits with his Bonegrit Dreadflesh arte, then switch to stunning his opponents when it made sense to do so, and re-engage his defenses just as quickly.

  Out of curiosity, he wanted to see how he would do against a level 5 Spiritweave arte. The powerful level 5 artes was something that took time to windup, but it also locked their opponent within a pressure field, forcing them to respond by defending or counterattacking.

  Diyuan, however, could simply walk out of the forced engagement with his Emperor’s Rule barrier. Quite convenient, that. And the opponent couldn’t simply stop their attack and would have a hard time changing the direction. The Yuhan Elite learned rather quickly that the bigger and slower artes were useless against him.

  However, some powerful and quick hits would still sometimes cut through his defense. Those were the attacks where they intended to cut off a limb. He would need to switch to his limitless healing arte to patch it up and continue dodging. The pattern would repeat until he found out a critical weakness he had not been aware of.

  The use of his limitless healing was, in fact, not unlimited. There was a max amount he could heal before the internal arte reached a level of exhaustion and stopped working. Not only that, the exhaustion was set for three days. It made him immediately wonder if the Bonegrit Dreadflesh had a similar capacity limit.

  Every now and then, Father would active his Wireweave Ensnare attack, creating a zone of wires. It kept Diyuan on his toes.

  Later in the practice matches, there was a moment where Diyuan was caught in the air without being able to teleport. He desperately activated his limitless Emperor’s Rule arte, as an attempt to teleport, but found out that it had done something very different instead.

  His foot caught in the air on something—except there was nothing there. Diyuan stumbled and started to fall to the ground.

  “Wait! Wait!” Diyuan called out, as one of the Yuhan Elites came at him, eager to be the first to take his arm.

  Once Diyuan landed on the ground, he waited until he could use his ability again, now understanding what it might be for. He jumped up as high as he could and activated the limitless Emperor’s Rule. But, instead of falling to the ground like everyone would have expected, Diyuan floated. Or rather, he was standing on solid air.

  It created a temporary solid footing beneath him. He was now capable of double jumping.

  The practice matches would last for a month. Diyuan likened the training with what he experienced in the Reflections Pagoda. His mind kept going back to Emperor’s Rule. The arte was a strange one. It allowed him to teleport quickly, resist a cultivator’s pressure, and gave him the ability to double jump. The true nature of the arte was so versatile that he couldn’t help but wonder about the arte.

  During one of the breaks, Diyuan kept trying out his useless arte, Mesmer’s Echo. He had been trying it out for a while now, but figured now that maybe it did something unrelated to its arte description, similar to the solid step he could take in the air with Emperor’s Rule. But no matter what he tried, nothing came of it. It was supposed to tell him how to dodge when he knew how the enemy would attack, but even when he did know how they would attack, the arte did nothing. There had to be something fundamental he was missing.

  What a useless waste of space, Diyuan thought. If it hadn’t been a double arte, he would have been very upset with it. Enough so that he would’ve ripped the arte out of his core, not caring for the internal injuries that would come with such an action.

  “What did you just say, Diyuan?” Father asked. His eyes were wide in shock.

  The other Yuhan Elites dropped in low, also looking at Diyuan as if he had just done something strange. Diyuan was laying on the normal ground, the formations currently not activated during their break.

  “What?” Diyuan asked. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “No, you did. Just now.” Father insisted. “You said ‘what a useless waste of space.’”

  Diyuan slowly sat up. They heard that? But he thought it, he didn’t say it. Curious, Diyuan tried again and activated the limitless Mesmer’s Echo, which was what he was playing around with.

  [Can you hear this?] Diyuan asked.

  “Sound transmission!?” One of the Yuhan Elites nearly shouted. “But you’re only at the Foundation realm. It isn’t possible to send out a sound transmission.”

  Father grunted. “That’s hardly the strangest thing he’s done so far.”

  Diyuan was just as baffled as they were. But his reason for being confused was different from theirs. The ability to send out a sound transmission came from Mesmer’s Echo—the very arte that was supposed to be about dodging attacks he knew was coming his way. That had, quite literally, zero relation to sending out a sound transmission. If he didn’t know what the purpose of the arte was before, he certainly didn’t know now.

  Overall, he got a good sense on how to use his Limitless Body. He also managed to avoid getting a limb chopped off. Father was satisfied enough that Diyuan could continue the training as he saw fit, giving the Yuhan Elite to Diyuan for the final month.

  During his downtime, he prepared his own pills, which always produced three perfect pills despite using the ingredients of one. Supreme Perfect Pill creation didn’t make the pills individually better; it only increased the number of pills. On top of making the standard healing pills, which he would use freely, considering the harsh timer limitation on the limitless Benediction Balm, he would also make battle pills. Stealth pills would reduce his spiritual signature from detection. A fortitude pill would increase his defensive capabilities even further, doubling its effects with the second internal arte. He continued on and made whatever he thought was useful.

  There came a point where he believed nothing more could be prepared. Considering everything he was capable of now, he couldn’t help but wonder if he himself couldn’t be considered a renegade cultivator. Honestly, who couldn’t he defeat at his own level? He wanted to face off against someone with a special physique to see how he really compared. Or better yet, how would he fare against someone who had a renegade arte, such as the Heavenly Fairy Stance that Yunya had?

  As far as he knew, he truly was peerless.

  Materials were being set up to have the arrays mimic the effects of the Carcass Grotto’s miasma, but it would take a bit for them to be collected. Diyuan’s goal here was to understand how much he can sneak up on higher level cultivators while relying on the miasma.

  Time continued to tick towards the day the ban would be lifted. That was when Diyuan was invited to go with Old Man Yifan somewhere.

  ***

  “It’s been a few years since I road this cloud of yours,” Diyuan said. He sat comfortably on the fluffy cloud that carried the two of them. “Last I been on it, it was the two of us and Yunya. How’s she been, anyway?”

  “An intriguing inquiry, lad. In due course, we’ll find ourselves in her presence shortly,” Old Man Yifan said.

  “Oh? I thought we were meeting with the other Grand Elders to talk about the Carcass Grotto.”

  Turned out, wherever they were going was where the others would be. Last time Diyuan had seen Yunya was when she borrowed ten million spirit stones from him in an attempt to breakthrough to level 7 Foundation without needing 70-some years of meditation. Even if she had successfully absorbed everything these past few years, her spiritual energy would be greatly unstable. Part of him was curious to know how the Grand Elders had decided to build out her internal artes. Perhaps she could already do something unconventional as well, similar to Diyuan’s Limitless Body.

  But in a battle, he doubted she could hold a candle to him.

  They arrived to an undisclosed location. The entered a false mountain, which was how Diyuan described it. They went through the mountain’s surface, an illusion of sorts, where the air shimmered like a dome all around, encompassing miles wide. It was part of the array that made those outside see hills and cliffs. If someone had reached this place, they could even step and climb up the fake land if they wanted to. The only way to enter inside the illusionary zone was if they had the predetermined method to access it. Not that anyone could simply walk up and do whatever they wanted with this plot of land; they were inside Zheng Tianhou’s land, Patriarch of the Zhengyi clan.

  Such an array to hide regular plains of grass and other greenery. Diyuan had half expected there to be a secret passage or something.

  Within, Diyuan saw Uncle Xunran and Venerate Grouch Huizhong. There was no sign of Ancestor Tianhou or Yunya, who were also supposed to be coming.

  Uncle Xunran spoke up before Diyuan could greet him when he landed.

  “Your Grand Invitational was something else, eh?” Uncle Xunran wrapped his arm around Diyuan’s shoulders. “You could’ve insulted them more, you know. It was like you took none of my advice.”

  “Uncle, I want to draw out my enemies, not make new ones.”

  “What’s the fun in spending millions of spirit stones if you can’t make new friends?”

  “Uncle, I think I’m starting to understand why you have so many enemies.”

  The casual conversations would continue while they waited for the other two people to come. The topic moved to the Carcass Grotto and the preparations Diyuan had made. He didn’t tell them yet about his new Limitless Body abilities; the plan was to surprise them first with a sound transmission. When the conversation somewhat died, there was a moment when Diyuan suspected they were using sound transmission themselves and decided now would be a good a time as any. As he began to use his own sound transmission…

  [She’s at level 1 Spiritweave now? No one would be able to guess it,] Uncle Xunran said.

  Diyuan was surprised. It seemed like Uncle Xunran suddenly decided to add him to their private talks, as if he wanted him to hear what they were saying. Or so he thought, because Diyuan was able to hear the other side of the conversation as well.

  [Yes, I’ve witnessed little Yunya unleash her potential. Quite the sight, if I do say so myself,] Old Man Yifan said.

  [Hmph. That’s the very problem, now isn’t it?] Venerate Grouch Huizhong said. [A child with—]

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The sound transmission suddenly cut off. Not because they stopped talking, Diyuan realized, but because the limitless Mesmer’s Echo had run out.

  The revelation hit him like a hammer. Diyuan was capable of hearing other people’s sound transmission.

  Once again, he was baffled as to what Mesmer’s Echo actually did. No one in all of history, from what Diyuan knew, was capable of eavesdropping into someone else’s sound transmission. At worst, they could prevent a sound transmission from happening, but never listen in on it.

  Diyuan made the quick decision to never reveal this ability. However, he had every intention of abusing it. And he did just that with their conversation now.

  [And if she accidentally kills Diyuan?] Uncle Xunran said.

  [Then we’ll step in, obviously,] Venerate Grouch Huizhong said, his tone filled with all the grouchiness that one might expect by now.

  [Great Uncle says Yunya will probably kill him the moment she loses control,] Uncle Xunran continued. [Between all of us, I’m the fastest. Even if it’s true that she’ll lose her rebellious streak if she witnessed the damage of her abilities, I have no intention of letting my Fel nephew die for it.]

  There seemed to be some concern that Yunya might accidentally kill him in this fight they determined he was going to have with her. So they wanted him to fight her? And apparently Yunya was a little rebellious at the moment? Diyuan didn’t know what was going on, but he had no intention of dying. In fact, none of the Grand Elders here knew of Diyuan’s Limitless Body. Diyuan might not know how strong Yunya was, but he had trouble believing she could match him.

  The truth was about to be revealed now, however, as two beings entered the shimmering barrier far above the landscape. Ancestor Tianhou floated down without any wings to carry him. A faint hum of power pulsed around him. Unlike with other cultivators that purposely threw out power to force people to kneel, Ancestor Tianhou exuded that power all the time. The way his long hair and robes flowed with his descent reminded Diyuan of that day nearly four years ago, when he arrived and struck Gu Guoxiong. If anyone was an immortal of the lower worlds, it was Zheng Tianhou.

  Next to him was a woman Diyuan had not seen in about three years now, not since she ripped him off with her interest loan deal. She also floated down without wings, but there was some energy that was lifting her that had come from Ancestor Tianhou. Once they landed, Ancestor Tianhou waved a finger, causing the energy that was carrying Yunya to disappear.

  Jia Yunya, eyes wide and bright, saw Diyuan and waved. The youthful look she had previously had grown into that of an adult woman. They had first met when they both were 16 years old. They had seen each other briefly again shortly before he went into the Reflections Pagoda at the age of 17. Now, on the year where they would both hit 21, here they met again.

  One odd thing stood out from her appearance. A streak of her hair was colored pink, like she had dyed it for some fashion statement. It was odd to see someone that looked youthfully goofy standing next to the most powerful being in the world. Ancestor Tianhou’s face, usually unreadable behind his infinite wisdom (probably), now looked…well, it was the look Mother gave him when he came up with ridiculous excuses when she was tugging his ear. It seemed like the great Ancestor Tianhou had suffered a defeat against Yunya.

  Ancestor Tianhou looked at Uncle Xunran, eyes squinting. Diyuan was curious, so he checked to see if they were having a private conversation.

  [I never said anything,] Uncle Xunran messaged privately. [But it sure does look like parents have wisdom you don’t, Great Uncle.]

  Ancestor Tianhou looked at Yunya as she ran out. He let out a sigh. She ran at Diyuan, but showed no sign of slowing down the closer she approached.

  Ah, she was going to hug him, wasn’t she?

  “Diyuan!” She jumped and plowed into him. He activated his double defense just to be safe from getting knocked over. “I can’t believe you sent out that message to everyone on New Years! I didn’t know you had a bounty on you. Have you been safe? Are you really challenging all those Dharma cultivators? I heard you cut off a homeless man’s arm—is that true?”

  Diyuan pushed her off of him. She still held his shoulders, refusing to part completely. Her face still held that innocence he knew her for. Though, she’s a bit clingier now than she was before.

  “You shouldn’t show so much physical affection in public towards a man.” Diyuan plucked her hands off one finger at a time. “You have to think about your Jia family line.”

  She gave a big smile, revealing her white teeth. “You haven’t heard, then? My papa found a nice woman and ended up marrying her. I’m going to be a big sister later this year. Carrying the Jia line is no longer my problem! Oh, speaking of which.” She backed off as she looked over to Old Man Yifan, giving a lotus salute. “Papa says he gives his regards for the wedding gifts.”

  Old Man Yifan and Yunya started off with their own conversation, catching up on the times. He was giving her his eye-twinkling affection that he always does. Meanwhile, Ancestor Tianhou took the opportunity to talk to Diyuan.

  [Yuhan Diyuan,] Ancestor Tianhou began. He was looking off in the distance, as if to enjoy the view. [Jia Yunya’s transformation includes an unnatural heightened emotional level. She feels indebted to you and will attempt to break free of my training sessions to join your venture into the Dharma-level pocket world. Her reasoning stops computing, which impacts her second-rate spiritual energy control. I need her full focus on this, not you.] He turned his head slightly to look at Diyuan. [The best way to approach the matter is if she accidentally harms you and feels heightened guilt from it. Can you manage this?]

  Uncle Xunran and Venerate Grouch Huizhong joined in on the conversation with Yunya. It seemed forced and preplanned; it was their way to distract her while Ancestor Tianhou gave instructions to Diyuan.

  Diyuan had no intention of losing on purpose. He was confident he could kill anyone at the level 3 Spiritweave realm. And for those at level 5 Spiritweave, Diyuan was certain he could successfully escape from them. With Yunya being only at level 1 Spiritweave, she wasn’t someone Diyuan could purposely lose to.

  [Ancestor, may I offer a counter suggestion?] Diyuan asked.

  Ancestor Tianhou’s eyes widened slightly. [You can send a sound transmission? At the Foundation realm?]

  Diyuan nodded. [If her control is as bad you think, I believe I can shut her down and make her want to stay without the guilt manipulation. If you don’t mind, Ancestor, could you let me take responsibility for Yunya’s incentive to grow in stabilizing her energy control? I will give her a reason to have confidence in me and also a reason to stay away, using a gambit.]

  [She has the Heavenly Fairy Stance. You are not aware of her renegade capabilities.]

  [With respect, Ancestor,] Diyuan saluted with his fist-in-palm, which caught Yunya’s attention. [I have reached level 9 Foundation, granting me unique strength. This is a state that cannot be reached due to heavens’ decree on pre-Spiritweave longevity. That makes me the closest thing to a renegade cultivator after Yunya. And I’m not lacking in control.]

  The conversations between the Grand Elders and Yunya had halted, and they were now watching the two of them. Ancestor Tianhou was silent, considering something, before he finally responded.

  [Perhaps you have special insight that can help. I am told I may not have wisdom to match those of a parent, so you may do as you wish. If you think it is too much in the end, allowing her to cripple or kill you would be the best way to compensate.] When he finished speaking, Ancestor Tianhou turned and began walking away, leaving altogether and acting as if he was no longer interested in what would happen next.

  “Uh, Diyuan?” Yunya trotted over. “If he’s bullying you, just let me know. I can show him who’s boss.”

  “At level 1 Spiritweave?” Diyuan asked, incredulous.

  “Another one underestimates me! So, since you already told everyone you’re going to the Carcass Grotto, I figured I may as well join you.”

  “Nope,” Diyuan said.

  “Yup.”

  “I already said I was going alone. Can’t make me a liar now, can we?”

  “Don’t pretend you don’t lie as easily as you breathe. And I can protect you this time. I don’t think you realize how awesome I am now.” Yunya took a few steps back and placed her hands on her hips, as if her posture proves her point.

  Yunya should know that her abilities should be kept secret no matter the cost. Even if other people couldn’t guess that she had a heavenly arte, everyone’s attention should remain on Diyuan, not shared with her. And would she even have a way to block the miasma? He would have to assume so if she kept pushing the matter.

  Diyuan acted out a sigh. It was now time to put on the show.

  “You want to protect me, Yun Yun? If we fought, you would stand no chance against me,” Diyuan said.

  “Ugh, you still call me Yun Yun? Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you said if I beat you in a spar then you’d stop. So, let’s spar!”

  “Sure, but let’s increase the stakes. Let’s do a gambit to also determine a few other things.”

  “Hmm…” Yunya crossed her arms. “I’m listening.”

  The three Grand Elders stood off to the side, watching silently.

  “The gambit can work like this: if you win, I’ll stop calling you Yun Yun. Secondly, I will allow you to come with me to the Carcass Grotto. But if I win: first, we’ll swap out the interest deal you made with me.”

  Yunya tilted her head in confusion. “Interest deal?” It took her a moment before she remembered. “Ah, so you found out?”

  “Simple interest versus compounding resetting interest? You ripped me off! I lent you 10 million spirit stones and you wanted to take advantage of me!” Diyuan played up his mock frustration. If he was going to do a gambit, he intended to get his fair stone’s worth out of it.

  [Oh, I’ve forgotten about that,] Uncle Xunran said to Diyuan on the side, amused.

  She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay okay, you don’t have to say I took advantage of you. People will think I’m a pervert.”

  “Good. Secondly, you have to do what I say.”

  “Nuh uh, that’s a bit…” She covered her face to hide her fake blush. “D-Diyuan!” She made a gap between her fingers and peeked through them only to see Diyuan look at her deadpanned. Yunya huffed, ending her act. “You’re no fun. Fine, but you can’t make me do anything I wouldn’t want my papa hearing.

  “What are you talking about? I meant you have to do what I say in that you can’t come with me to the pocket world.”

  Off to the side, the Grand Elders made their own comments privately.

  [I get the feeling that Miss Jia Yunya isn’t as rebellious as my Grand Uncle makes her out to be,] Uncle Xunran said.

  [A girl whose hormones have no outlet,] Venerate Grouch Huizhong added.

  [An ‘unnatural heightened emotional level,’ as our Patriarch so gravely puts it,] Old Man Yifan said with a jolly tone.

  Yunya held out her hand for a shake. “Yeah, yeah. Then we have a deal?” She had a look of someone who was getting the better end of the deal but didn’t have the ability to hide it. Diyuan took her hand and shook it. She grinned and leaped away from him.

  “Diyuan! I feel bad already. You may have beaten Gu Mugong, but it’s different with me. And because I care about you, I’ll tell you a little about my powers so you can forfeit whenever you want.” She stretched out her hands, her face becoming smug.

  Energy began to gather on one side of her arm, but it wasn’t the blue Spiritweave color that was associated with the ocean; nor was it the golden Dharma energy, associated with the sun by some. It was pink, a color never seen before as energy.

  “Internal arte number one: Sacrificial False Core.” Yunya lifted the arm that looked like it was burning with a pink fire. It matched the pink part of her hair. “It condenses the entire spiritual energy cycle into one-third, but amplifies its output by one hundred times. So, for a brief moment, it will give the cultivator the energy of a hundred. But once it runs out, they won’t be able to cycle and gain energy back again at all, at least not until they sit and meditate away from battle. It’s meant to allow a cultivator to use several overwhelming artes in succession, in order to end fights quickly. Afterwards, they will be helpless, unable to use artes until they meditate to restart their cycle.”

  She left up her second arm, which now also started a pink fire. “Internal arte number two: Reverse Moon’s Shadow. It has the ability to triple the effects of any arte, but increases the cost of it by ten. It’s meant to give a burst of power, rather than raw energy like the first one. Since only one internal arte could be used at a time, it was designed for external artes only.”

  Yunya moved her hands so that they were about to clasp together, but she stopped just short. Despite not touching, pink lightning started to flicker out from them. “With my Heavenly Fairy Stance, I can combine both together. Tripling the effects of Sacrificial False Core, it will increase its duration back to a full cycle, removing the downside of being unable to cycle. And the ten times cost of Reverse Moon’s Shadow doesn’t apply, because there is no tangible cost of Sacrificial False Core.”

  She paused and gave Diyuan a long look before she smiled. “Now I know why you were so desperate to help me escape from the Administrator’s Archive.” She clasped her hands together, merging the pink fires of both hands. “Heavenly Cycle Surge,” Yunya said.

  A pulse of energy whipped out, causing a burst of wind to blow around. But what caught Diyuan’s attention wasn’t the sudden rampant increase of power.

  Yunya’s eyes started to glow pink. It was the same as Diyuan’s white glow when he used Emperor’s Rule. Pink lightning cackled about, some hitting the ground and tearing up the dirt.

  What she had just done was something beyond what he had expected. A permanent increase of spiritual energy by one hundred? Could she use level 5 Spiritweave artes despite being only level 1? Was that going to exist even when she was at level 5 Dharma? Not even Ancestor Tianhou could fight one hundred peak Dharma cultivators.

  Yunya held out her hand and pointed a single finger at Diyuan. She then pointed down.

  A surge of power came crashing on him. It was the pressure of a significantly higher-level cultivator. Diyuan activated his barrier to resist the gravity. His ability to stand came as a surprise to her.

  “Huh?” Yunya said, pink energy cackling around her. “I’m pretty sure I almost have the same spiritual energy as a level 5 Spiritweave cultivator now. How are you still standing?”

  Diyuan casually waved a hand. “Please. You spent some time cultivating a bit and suddenly you think you can beat me?” No matter how surprised he might be, he must not show it. He needed to finish all of this with an overwhelming victory. “And what’s this Heavenly Cycle Surge? Did you have another heavenly arte?”

  “Naw, it’s kind of weird if I’m honest.” The cackling energy around Yunya dispersed. Her eyes still glowed pink, but she wasn’t releasing her power. “You know how some artes are stronger or faster if you vocally say its name when using it? Whenever I combine internal artes, it always comes up with a new heavenly named arte. I’m not allowed to use it unless I say it out loud. Weird, isn’t it? It’s not a real arte, though, so it doesn’t take any arte slots. Anyways, what’s more important is that I can do this!”

  Energy started to form around Yunya’s back. It began to take shape, creating runic wings in the shape and symbol of a butterfly. Once it formed, she lifted off the ground and started to float up into the air.

  “If I didn’t need to hide that I can make my own wings at level 1 Spiritweave, I would be flying everywhere! Since I can fly and you can’t, you might as well give up now. You’ll never win!”

  Diyuan couldn’t help but be in awe. He had already known that the Heavenly Fairy Stance’s ability to harmonize internal artes went beyond the established rules of cultivation, but she had effectively jumped several levels in a single moment. Even with all of Diyuan’s training he had up until now, he knew that if he was up against a level 5 Spiritweave cultivator, or even a level 4 for that matter, his only option was to flee. He could never defeat them in a death battle. At most, he could perhaps injure a level 4 Spiritweave cultivator if he used everything at his disposal, with the Limitless Body and the full piercing might of Wind’s Edge.

  But something caught Diyuan’s attention. Yunya, who was hovering above with her nose in the air, had her wings flicker oddly on one side. He didn’t miss how her body tilted slightly, trying to remain straight.

  He saw the problem that Ancestor Tianhou wanted to fix.

  “An emperor doesn’t need wings to rule the sky,” Diyuan said.

  Yunya scrunched her nose, not sure how to take what he said. In one moment, she was seeing him stand on the ground, viewing him like a cute little child who didn’t know how to walk yet. But, in the next moment, he vanished. A sharp, reverberating beat sliced through the air as Diyuan suddenly appeared, his face, eyes glowing, inches away from her own.

  She screamed in surprise and flailed her hands all over. Half of her runic wings popped, spilling out energy uncontrollably. With only half of her wings intact, she lost balance and started to fall down in a spiral. Unable to control her fall, she faceplanted.

  Diyuan, who was still standing on a solid piece of nothing in the air, finally dropped to the ground, as elegantly as she was inelegant. The surprise worked, just as he had expected. This would have been her first time seeing him teleport. Her control was as bad as his own when he got his new core, where he had accidentally shattered a table by simply pressing on it. Yunya had increased both her level, which was done through his spirit stones, and her spiritual energy, done unnaturally with her internal artes combination. She would need years to gain proper control, otherwise her emotional state would impact her ability to do anything. It was only going to get worse if she didn’t take care of it now.

  Yunya stood up, attempting to act graceful as she swiped at the dirt on her clothes.

  “Ahem. Okay, well, I’ll admit I didn’t expect that.” She looked over at the three Grand Elders, each of their faces finding the situation amusing, annoying, and encouraging. “So what if you can stand in the air? You know what you can’t do?” She pointed her nose in the air again. [This! Someone who can’t use sound transmission is required a guardian in the more dangerous pocket worlds. Says me. Or actually, in accordance with Section 15, Clause 10, or something. It’s probably true.]

  Diyuan sighed. He then changed to a serious tone. “Yunya, you want to protect me but you’re not capable of protecting yourself. You looking down on me is the same as my enemies looking down on me. And you want to know what will happen to all of them?” He paused for dramatic effect, before sending the message to everyone in the area. [They will die.]

  Her jaw dropped in surprise. The Grand Elders also had their own surprised responses. The reactions to his sound transmission were always fun, though he needed to hide his enjoyment at the moment.

  “I’m not here to play games,” Diyuan said. “The fact that you have to say ‘heavenly’ whenever you combine your internal artes is just begging to be noticed.”

  She lost her gleeful face and switched to serious mode. “And you’re not begging to be killed? I don’t care about anything else, but you’re not someone I’m okay with going off and dying. You’re still at the Foundation level, for crying out loud! It’s not okay for you to go alone. And we can play it off like I’m making it all up and drawing attention from you. I’m not stupid, I’ve thought about it.”

  “And we’re not stupid either. It isn’t like we don’t have a plan. But it seems you want proof of my strength. Let’s have a serious spar, then. Those cultivators entering the Carcass Grotto with me won’t be playing games, so I don’t need you to hold back on me. Beat me and I’ll be okay with you coming, just like our gambit says.”

  The general rule was to never make a gambit with a stake you weren’t willing to lose. But most people disregarded that if they felt confidence in their victory. But no matter what, Diyuan would never go back on his word once given. Ancestor Tianhou knew that, too, since the only way to stop her from coming with him to the pocket world if she won the gambit was if he was dead or she accidentally crippled him.

  Yunya created runic wings again and floated up into the air. “Fine. Grand Elders, please step in if you think it’s getting dangerous. I will use everything I have to end this as quickly as possible.”

  Diyuan gave his own instructions to counter hers. [Grand Elders, do not step in. I made an agreement with Ancestor Tianhou. And I haven’t told you three about the changes I went through after reaching level 9 Foundation. Trust me to know what I’m doing.]

  The three Grand Elders split up, each taking a different location and watching the match, ready to intervene when they thought necessary.

  The first match between Diyuan, the Fel, and Yunya, no novice cultivator, began.

  Diyuan took out his black cold steel sword. A pulse of power pushed out from her—a sign that she had combined some internal artes. A swirl of pink energy shot out from Yunya, enveloping a wide area around him. It looked like he was inside a giant half hollow drill laying on its side, where the other half was underground. Yunya closed her hand into a fist, activating the arte fully.

  “Heavenly Terror Cyclone!” Yunya shouted.

  The ground tore asunder. The transparent drill-like energy swirled, its walls jaded with spikes, ripping up large chunks of rocks and debris into the sky. The sound of rocks chewing through each other filled the air and the smell of dirt filled his lungs. The ground beneath Diyuan was forcefully pulled towards the drill’s wall spikes. Diyuan ran and jumped onto a rock in the air. The drill itself wasn’t solid and had several openings to the outside. The spacing moved too quickly to jump through, but speed meant nothing to Emperor’s Rule. He simply teleported through the open space from above.

  He was now outside and falling in the air, joined by other falling debris. That which landed on the surface of the spinning energy was ripped to shreds. As he was about to land on its surface, he double jumped towards another large chunk of rock, kicking off of it towards Yunya. She was hovering in the air with her runic wings, surprised to see him break free of her trap easily. As he attempted to cut her, she flew backwards out of range. Her flight was wobbly, but not enough to matter. The drill-arte vanished completely as he landed on the ground.

  Another pulse of power came from her. “Heavenly Bombardment Volley!”

  Five pink energy arrows appeared before her and launched into the air, curving to land around him. But perhaps arrows weren’t the right word. They were as long as spears but thick as his own arm. Each of them shimmered slightly differently, where Diyuan could tell the balance on some were off. Not to mention the aim, where not a single one was going to hit him even if he stood still.

  Unsure as to how it could be called a bombardment volley, Diyuan waited to see what would happen. The first few hit the ground. Some simply unraveled and vanished without fanfare. Some would hit and remain sticking up. Another would hit and break, releasing harmless pink energy.

  But the perfectly balanced one landed several feet away. The second it touched the ground, it detonated. The explosion itself lifted him off the ground and pushed him towards the final remaining spear-arrow. Diyuan teleported away, in case it also exploded. Instead, the last one continued to pierce through the ground, leaving a small hole.

  As he landed, he mused on the strength of that explosion. It was enough that if it had hit him directly back when he was level 5 Foundation, it would have torn his body to pieces.

  Some shadows appeared on the ground, catching Diyuan’s attention. He looked up to the sky and saw Yunya continuing her arte. But this time, instead of five spear-arrows, there were ten.

  He had a bad feeling as to this arte’s full strength.

  Diyuan ran forward, intent to get closer to Yunya. She started to fly backwards as she unleashed another volley while the second volley was still in flight; this time, it was twenty spear-arrows. Diyuan was able to recognize which of these spear-arrows would detonate on touch and which were duds. He dodged, zigzagging through the impacts.

  Another volley was summoned. Forty spear-arrows.

  The light of the sun was starting to be blocked. The explosive nature of these spear-arrows meant that if more than one was near it, it would set off a chain reaction when the first exploded. Diyuan started to utilize his Wind’s Edge to trigger some explosions ahead of time to better pave a way for him to dodge.

  Eighty spear-arrows.

  The ground was no longer going to work. Diyuan jumped up, kicking off of the dud spear-arrows to another, twisting his body to miss the explosive ones. He would teleport, double jump, and kick off the spear-arrows as he climbed higher into the sky.

  At times he would need to use his black cold steel sword to parry the unstoppable piercing spear-arrows. He no longer knew how many of these were in the sky, but he kept pushing forward by jumping through the minefield. He eventually got a view on her, but figured he could never catch up as long as he had to navigate as he did. He came up with an idea.

  Yunya might have the spiritual energy level close to a level 5 Spiritweave cultivator, but that didn’t mean she had the other benefits that would come with it. Diyuan activated his limitless Stunlock Bind, which would normally have little effect on any real level 5 Spiritweave cultivator.

  The stun was not only effective, it fully disrupted her to a high degree. She had summoned forth her next volley, which was so much that he no longer could see the ends of it within his vantage point. He hit her with his stun. The newly summoned spear-arrows froze as well. Then, all at once, they all exploded.

  Diyuan didn’t have time to consider if she was harmed by it as it triggered a massive chain reaction in the aerial field he was in. Now, instead of trying to get to Yunya, he was trying to find a place where he could be safely out of range.

  A deafening roar of the explosions filled the battlefield. It wasn’t possible for Diyuan to dodge everything, so he focused on where he could preemptively trigger an explosion himself. He threw Wind’s Edge and teleported inside the vacuum of the fiery aftermath. He would stand in the air within as he felt the chain reactions outside hit him. Despite the distance, he could feel one arm get pulled one way and another limb pulled another, trying to tear away from his torso. But his single defense was still enough to keep him in one piece. His clothes, however, didn’t have that good of a time. The top part of his robes had been shredded. As things began to calm, Diyuan dropped to the ground.

  His body was pattered by a rain of debris. Dust filled the air, blocking his vision entirely. He popped one of his self-made pills, the stealth pill, and secretly made his way to Yunya to continue the battle. He could feel the calming effect of his pill, where it lowered his presence from sensory detections.

  “Diyuan!?” She called out, fear filling her voice.

  She should be on guard, instead of being worried for him. He sensed her more than saw her and warped behind. She barely registered the sound of his warp as he swung his sword with his full strength. He would finish the spar by cutting off an arm.

  Which could be reattached easily enough, he told himself.

  But his black cold steel sword bounced off a pink barrier that shimmered just barely off of her skin.

  Yunya finally turned around, eyes wide in surprise. By reflex, she pointed her arm at him and a mass of unstructured energy slammed into his chest. A strange sensation hit him as he flew backwards; his vision went white and heat enveloped all around him. His body felt as if it was being crushed on all sides—like water pressing him, demanding he be obliterated. Just as he thought it would continue, it halted, letting the pain of it settle.

  Diyuan felt the ground hit him. He regained his vision as he tumbled. But something else also happened: his limitless Bonegrit Dreadflesh had reached its limit. It broke and entered its exhaustion state. It couldn’t be used again for three days.

  Several thoughts went through Diyuan’s mind, but first and foremost was the absolute need to win this match.

  [Grand Elders, don’t interfere!] He quickly sent out a sound transmission to the three Grand Elders. He didn’t know what they were doing now, but he intended to play dead. He activated the limitless Benediction Balm on himself, mending the wounds of the powerful hit that Yunya had struck him with.

  “Diyuan…?” Yunya’s voice was a whisper. He had not moved after hitting the ground. “Diyuan!”

  He could hear her run towards him, her guard lowered once again. He was already carving his warp tunnel as she did so. Just as she was a few feet away, he warped. He had lost his black cold steel when he went flying before, so he had his Wind’s Edge dagger out and struck at her arm.

  “Honestly,” Diyuan said, his dagger bouncing ineffectively against the strange barrier she had. “Your attacks are so weak I’m not sure if you could beat anyone. I told you to take this seriously!”

  He jumped back as Yunya’s look of fear and concern changed to confusion after seeing him okay. But she realized he was fine even after a pointblank hit of her attack. She composed herself and prepared another unstructured energy attack. Diyuan realized now that this attack, much like the one that had slammed into him just now, was heavily instable. Her energy control was the poorest he had ever seen.

  Diyuan activated his limitless Stunlock Bind and froze her in place, causing her unstructured energy to explode in her face. This time, it was her who was forced to fly backwards. He teleported to her and kicked off the air to fly at the same speed she was falling. He touched her arm and activated his normal Stunlock Bind and put his Wind’s Edge to her throat as they hit the ground. The barrier she had before didn’t activate.

  They slid to a stop. Yunya was laying on the ground with some scrapes and cuts on her face, while Diyuan had one knee on her shoulder and his spirit artifact to her throat. She coughed as she gained a semblance of understanding on what had happened.

  “How in the world did you stun me from a distance?” Yunya demanded to know. “Teacher Tianhou said no one could touch me, and you’re at the Foundation realm! There shouldn’t be an arte that lets you hit me from afar.”

  Diyuan got off of her and made his weapon disappear. She showed no intention of getting up, so he just sat next to her. His upper body was plainly visible as the torn robes slid off of him. Pants were still fine, fortunately.

  “It’s my win,” Diyuan declared. “That means the gambit is mine.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Yunya winced as she looked down at her arm. It twisted in an unnatural way.

  Diyuan reached out and gently touched it, activating his limitless Benediction Balm.

  “You can heal!?”

  At that moment, Uncle Xunran and the other two Grand Elders stepped by. Uncle Xunran handed over his black cold steel sword that had flown away in the midst of battle.

  [Be sure to tell us about your new abilities later, nephew,] Uncle Xunran said.

  Venerate Grouch Huizhong grunted. [I will be upset if I’m the last to know what you gained when you reached apotheosis. We will also need to talk about how much time remains before your Foundation core can’t take it anymore.]

  Old Man Yifan must have said something to Yunya, because she laughed while he passed by.

  Shortly after, all three Grand Elders left the two of them alone. Once they were gone, Diyuan realized that he didn’t actually need to touch her to heal her, but it would be too awkward to reveal that now. When her arm was good enough, she pointed to her face, demanding that “this piece of treasure be restored to its rightful glory.”

  She began to whine how he had escaped everything she thought was certain death. Excuses were given, explaining how if she wasn’t so worried about him, she would have continued to attack him when he was down. But that excuse wouldn’t fly with him; him playing dead wasn’t cheating, especially since Spiritweave or Dharma cultivators would lower their guards after thinking their strong attacks killed him as well.

  When he finished his healing her face, Diyuan pinched her nose closed as her complaining continued. She kept talking anyway, though now with a nasally voice. Curious, he un-pinched and re-pinched her nose, to see if he could make a tune out of it. She realized what he was doing and decided to join in by making a single-note sound from her throat. He wasn’t musically gifted, but he knew some easy-to-remember children’s songs and played that using her nose.

  She finally broke first and laughed. He joined her, feeling at ease.

  “But seriously,” she went back to her whining. “How did you survive my hit to your chest? I did that automatically, and it can break rocks super easily. Is your body made out of black cold steel?”

  “Something like that,” Diyuan said as he patted his bare chest. “I’m using Mugong’s old internal arte that splits damage.”

  “Huh.” Yunya took the opportunity to stare at his chest. He half expected her to ask how he could heal and use a different internal arte without meditating to switch to it manually, but she instead sat up and put her hands on him. She felt around his chest area, then his stomach, then squeezed here and there.

  “Are you groping me?”

  “I was checking if you were hard or squishy,” she said, pulling her hands back. She looked away with a bit of red on her cheeks.

  “Your verdict?”

  “Mm. Warm.”

  They sat together in silence for a bit. The sun started to lower in the sky. The land that Yunya had torn up had started to revert back to its normal state, removing any evidence of battle. Maybe that was the purpose of this hidden false-mountain area. Ah, that reminded him that it was time to settle the thing Ancestor Tianhou needed him to do.

  “Anyway. Gambit is my win, Yun Yun. Remember to calculate the interest properly.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll win next time. Don’t get used to calling me Yun Yun,” Yunya said.

  “You lost because your energy control is terrible,” Diyuan started to explain. “If any of your heavenly artes were at full might, it might’ve been dangerous for me. And I won because you let it explode in your face when I stunned you. You need to enter seclusion for years to get it fixed.”

  “Ugh!” Yunya threw her hands up. “That’s what Teacher Tianhou was saying, but come on! Years?”

  “It took me a full year to get proper control of my new energy circulation.”

  “You know, this is one thing I don’t like about cultivation.” Yunya pulled her knees up to her chest. “I haven’t met anyone my age except for you for the past few years. I’ve already sat and done nothing, absorbing all those spirit stones. Teacher Tianhou says I would need at least ten years of seclusion to focus purely on control. In my mind, I’m still 17 years old, but I’ll be turning 21 this year. I can’t imagine doing nothing and being 31 by time I’m free.” She lowered her voice to a mumble. “I’m starting to understand why some old cultivators act crazy. There’s barely any human interaction. How is someone supposed to mature like this?”

  Diyuan hummed. “I think some maturity comes from understanding the ways of the heavens and earth. But don’t quote me on that. Remember my analogy back in the Administrator’s Archive? Take a cultivator’s age and divide it by ten and that’s the equivalent of a regular person’s age. You and I are both two years old. Life doesn’t really start until we hit the Dharma realm, which would be like someone being 16 to 24 years old.”

  “From 160 to 240 years old…” Yunya rested her cheek on her knee as she looked at him. Strangely enough, she was looking at things other than his eyes, like his nose or jaw. “My papa and my new unborn sibling will have already lived and died by then.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Diyuan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t die.”

  “Yeah.”

  They said nothing for a bit before she asked him to tell her something interesting. He told her about his family, how he didn’t cut off a homeless man’s arm but someone else’s, and so on. She told him how the part of her hair that was pink was a result of the heavenly arte; it wasn’t her coloring it on purpose. She worried that everything would turn pink by the end. The topic turned to mundane things and went on for a length of time. They were still talking when it became dark.

  This might be the last time he would be able to sit in a position of strength over her. Once she fixed her control problem, he began to wonder how he would fight her again. He was the Limitless Body. He viewed himself as peerless. But the spar against Yunya showed him that he had set his eyes too low. He didn’t want to just admit defeat simply because she had a heavenly arte. Diyuan wanted to keep up and win. He needed to do something more.